In the Wood
by CrankshaftRabbit
Summary: Rem decides to take a nature walk in the hills of Mount Lee that tower over the Warner Bros. Studio alone. Then someone decides to tag along... An Animaniacs: Nocturnus Oneshot. Rated T for brief language


***In the Wood***

 **~An Animaniacs: Nocturnus Oneshot~**

Rem went alone into the nearby foot hills that became Mount Lee. For once in Burbank, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It wasn't too hot, nor was it too cold. Days with wonderful weather such as this were almost rare in Palm Springs. It was either unbearably hot, muggy, or really chilly in winter days.

As soon as the teen descended into the brown and greenery of the foot hills, she heard the wildlife. The air was clean of the usual smog for now so that made the atmosphere even more awesome. Rem, being alone in the wood, felt a sense of freedom. It was like many of her day dreams she had while sitting in Pre-Algebra. Granted, she could still hear the traffic from the metropolis behind her. It she went much, much further, she could very well reach the famous _Hollywood_ sign. But being in her present location was enough for now.

The trees here were much taller than the ones in the city below. Well...maybe the palm trees had them beat, after all, they're weren't the redwoods of Sequoia National Park. But whatever, it was cool anyway. Rem began to wonder if she could climb at least one tree and see how high she could get. Now that the teen thought about it, it had been a long time since she actually climbed a tree. She would much rather do it with shorts thought. Eh, screw it. She climbed anyway, but was careful as she ascended. Hell if Dot could do it, why couldn't she? A few minutes later, she was a good 2 feet up.

 _There better not be any ants crawlin' around this friggin thing..._

When Rem lifted herself onto another strong thick branch, she heard the fabric of her skirt rip...and then felt a twig scratch her leg seconds later.

 _OW! Dammit!_

As soon as she secured her position, the teen rubbed her leg, feeling the tear in the skin. She let out a groan, knowing that she either had to patch her skirt up or get a new one. Rem took a breath and readied herself to go up higher. That was until, she sensed a very familiar presence at the base of the tree, prompting her to make a very annoyed and irritated expression.

"Are you gonna follow me around everytime I go somewhere?" Rem called out aloud.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh, maybe. Some of us don't like being left out."

"That's easy for you to say, Warner."

The toon boy standing near the trunk continued to beam his great big smile while he watched the teen climb higher and higher.

"So why are you all the way out here if I may ask?" he dutifully inquired.

"If you really have to know, I got tired of being at the dang studio." Rem ranted. "I'm sick of being cooped up there most of the time."

The brown slacks clad boy arched a brow.

"Is that a fact?"

"I'd say I see why you and your brother and sister break out of the Tower all the time, but I don't know if you really do it to escape or to just around with Mr. Plotz."

There was a brief silence as the elder Warner went into thought.

"Good question." he replied.

"Tch..."

Rem got to a very high point on the tree, trying to ignore her slight fear of heights. It wasn't as strong as her claustrophobia which was something be grateful for.

"Not to discourage ya, but, eeeeeeehhhhhhhh, I don't think that next branch is very stable." Yakko called out.

The teen now had an even more irritated expression on her face.

 _Pffft, yeah right. Like he can tell from all the way down-_

Suddenly, when she put her foot and then her weight on a branch, it split all the way through, causing Rem to lose her balance and drop down.

"ACK! SHIT!"

She managed to fall through without colliding with the other branches. Yakko simply stepped towards the left and held out his arms. A few seconds later, Rem safely landed into them.

"Won't say I told'ja so, buuuut..." he sneered.

"Shut up. You freaking jinxed it." Rem accused.

"Who me? Nah..."

"You can put me down now."

"But if I do, how can I stop you from doing death defying stunts like that?"

"Dude, shut up."

Then the pair began feeling a slight sprinkle from above. A few heavy clouds had rolled in with the light wind and were releasing its load of rain.

"Well, _I'd_ say it's high time we get home, how 'bout you?" Yakko said.

"What for? I like being out in the rain." Rem whined.

"Call me zany, but what happened to your dress?"

"It's nothing. I can patch it up later, don't worry about it."

The elder Warner then gave a little bit of a stern look.

"There wouldn't happen to be a scratch underneath that too, would there, Roth?" he asked very pointedly.

"I don't know. Maybe." Rem yammered.

As if on cue, a droplet of rain hit the open wound on her leg which caused it to sting a bit, making the teen hiss out in pain.

"...ow."

"Uh-huh, I thought so." Yakko said.

"It's not that bad. Crap Warner, you act like I'm a hemophiliac or something."

The brown slacks clad toon arched a brow and slightly wrinkled up his nose.

"Well, taking into consideration of the last few times you liked to play rough..."

"Nevermind, I get it. Now can you _please_ put me down?!"

The rain above them got a little harder as the cloud passing through the mountain began to really release its load. And for a hot summer day, the celestial shower provided a relief from the heat. Instead of turning back towards the studios, Rem started going towards the opposite direction.

"Now where ya goin'?" Yakko called.

"That flipping Hollywood sign is nearby isn't it?" the teen asked.

"Sure, why?"

"...I'm gonna scale that sucker."

"What for?"

"Just to go out and say I did it."

Yakko folded his arms in a sort of annoyed way but shrugged a few seconds later and trotted off after her.

It didn't take too long for them to get thoroughly soaked by the rain despite the fact that it wasn't too heavy. Nor was it too light. Just a few miles away stood one of America's recognizable landmarks sitting situated on one of the peaks of Mount Lee. Rem couldn't help but feel her form heat up and kinda spaz out from a slight anxiety and excitement of being in actual physical contact with a historical landmark. Then her irreverency wormed it's way through her mind and she proceeded to climb the ladder and then the metal armature holding up letter ' **H** '. The teen sat herself on the middle line of the ' **H** ' and looked out into the horizon ahead of her.

She could see part of Burbank, Culver City, and Hollywood itself still being illuminated by the Sun. Rem felt highly tempted to shoot the cities below with an obscene hand gesture, just to be a jackass. The mountain around her sort of reminded her of the mountains of Palm Springs albeit on a slightly smaller scale scale. And less grass.

A few moments later, the elder Warner joined her on the ' **H** ', taking note of her usual quiet, brooding demeanor.

"Enjoying the view?" he quipped sarcastically.

"Yeah...sure. I'll buy that." Rem piped back.

There was a silence as the pattering of the rain drops against the letters of the sign a little more louder with each passing minute.

"Didn't this thing used to say ' _Hollywoodland_ ' or something?" Rem asked.

"Oh sure, but that was real estate advertising." the brown slacks clad toon replied.

"Tch, figures."

"Then some of the great celebrities of our time came together to fix it."

"Heard about that too."

"Too bad the sibs and I missed it."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Well, the Water Tower wasn't being fumigated for Termites then."

Rem gave a rather confused look.

"Okay, I'm probably gonna regret asking this, but how the hell do you get termites in a freaking Water Tower?!" she questioned. "Isn't it made out of iron or something?"

"Well not the top part."

Rem made a pause while trying to register all that into her brain.

"You know what? I'm going to stop there before I wind up giving myself a headache."

The teen let out a long and heavy sigh as the pair continued to get drenched by the rain. Then they picked up on some distant thunder rumbling.

"I don't know about you, but...eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh, I think now's a really good time to get back to the studio." Yakko quirked. "Before we get struck by lightning."

"You know, I kinda want to get hit by lightning." Rem replied. "You know, just to see what it's like."

"C'mon you..."

The elder Warner took her arm and pulled her over his shoulder. The lavender and orchid clad toon blinked a few times before she realized he was giving her a piggy-back ride.

"...Really, Warner?" she ranted.

"Well how else am I gonna get you off here?" he ranted back. "Willingly, I might add."

"Why? You think I'm gonna pull a Peg Entwistle?"

"Psh, you wish, Roth."

XXXXXXX

In spite of the heavy rain in the mountains, Burbank only just got a light shower of the rain that the elements had brought. After that, the cloud parted and there was an off and on movement of covering and uncovering the sun.

When Yakko and Rem came back to the Warner Bros. Studio lot, Wakko and Dot were struck to see them soaked to the skin.

"Don't tell us you went to a water park without us!" Dot whined.

"Actually Dot, to put it simply, I went into the mountains to give the weather the Finger." Rem retorted in a ranting and matter-of-fact tone. "But then your lousy brother decided to stop me from getting struck by lightning."

"Why would you wanna get hit by lightning?" Wakko curiously inquired as the teen walked past them.

"FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES!"

The quartet then started for the Water Tower.

"You too are gonna make a mess in the Tower." Dot fussed.

"It's filled with termites!" Rem exclaimed. "It's already screwed up!"

"That only happens once in while, Rem." Yakko countered.

Thus, they began a round of ranting back and forth as they ascended into their home.

 **~FINIS~**

* * *

 **AN: This is just something I wrote while in Statistics class and a sort of spin-off oneshot of the main storyline. But just in case if you were wondering, I'd say this takes place between Act XIII and XIV.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.**

 **=Song List=**

 **-Come (Namie Amuro)**

 **-Northern Lights (Cider Sky)**

 **-Only Time (Enya)**

 **-Sacra (Apocalytica)**


End file.
